Blogthegame

693.

I’ll be flying to KL for a wedding in a few days and staying for nearly a week with limited access to the Internet and certainly no game time (at least, I think I’ll have no game time.) In anticipation, I’m rushing as fast as I can to 700, which puts me within striking distance of the 750 Random achievement.

That, of course, means cheese.

I’ve found my sweet spot in my TvP game, and as you can expect, it’s cheesy: 3 fast Barracks and a marine rush so my opponent locks down before I transition into Marines/Medivacs/Siege Tanks with the occasional Banshee thrown in. I’m resorting to this to lock down the almost-inevitable Colossus rush that the PvT game has degenerated into. It’s won me every TvP game I’ve played so far.

693 was a ZvP. That’s quite rare as the RNG absolutely refuses to give me Zerg. I spawned in the NW corner on Antiga Shipyard while he spawned in the SE. Both of us were playing random, so I had no idea he was playing Protoss until I scouted him out. By that point in time I’d already decided to fast expand at 15, relying on a handful of Zerglings and two Spine Crawlers to hold off any early attacks.

He started by trying to put a Pylon in the expansion just to the south of my natural. I took out the Pylon with the speedlings while building up a force of Roaches and Hydralisks. I held the center while sending a Drone to take a third in the expansion I’d just cleared, only to discover that he’d warped in another Pylon into that area.

I rushed in with everything I had, which was good as his Stalkers nearly killed all of my Zerglings. After I cleared out the base, I reinforced and charged his natural. He gg’ed when he saw my units coming in.

And that was 693.

666.

Absolutely nothing happened when I hit 666.

Not even a reminder that Diablo 3 is coming out. Blizzard, you missed a great marketing opportunity here.

655.

I have 95 wins to go before I hit 750 and the coveted Banshee portrait. That seems like a lot, but it’s likely I’ll achieve it within the next month. Wins are coming in now, quite unlike the experience in the latter weeks of Season 3 when win streaks were definitely on the wane.

655 was a second game against a bronze Protoss player. I lost the previous game - I randomed into Terran and failed to heed the warning signs that he was going to 4gate me - so this time I prepared for a 4gate. I had spawned as Protoss at 12 on Metalopolis, while my opponent was at 3. I walled off with a Forge and a Gateway and built a couple of Photon Cannons to protect my ramp in. I decided to go mineral-heavy and waited till my mineral line was well saturated to build an Assimilator.

Since my scouting Probe had been left alone in his base, I sent it into hiding behind the vents - and much to my surprise, it was not at all harassed. So I built a Pylon and a Photon Cannon to protect it… and another Cannon… and then I walked another Pylon and two more Photon Cannons into his base. He was not happy.

He charged my base with three Zealots and three Stalkers, but my two Cannons and three waiting Zealots made short work of them. He repeatedly swarmed my Cannons in his base with Zealots and Probes, but four Cannons can kill a lot of units pretty quickly, especially when they’re in close proximity to each other. To cap the win, I built five more Gateways in my base, switched them to Warp Gates, and sent in six Zealots to finish off his base.

And when he GG’ed, I was at 655.

I’ve still no fixes for my TvZ problem - in that it’s bloody impossible for me to win a TvZ as my opponents tend to rush straight to Spire - but I’ve developed a rather cheesy workaround. I’ve won 5 out of 7 games with this strategy, but I’m not so happy with it. It just seems to be so cheesy.

The basics of the build: Barracks first, then Factory once enough gas comes in. Then the Barracks gets a Tech Lab - build two Reapers at the Tech Lab. Once the Factory is done, build two Starports. When there’s enough gas to do so, build a Tech Lab at the Factory.

Both Reapers should be out by the time the second Starport is done - switch over both Starports to the Tech Labs and build two Banshees. When gas allows, research cloak. Send both Reapers to sweep the Xel’Naga tower(s) and harass. They’ll probably die, but I want my opponent to prepare for a bio attack.

The Barracks and the Factory don’t have to be idle - I usually build Hellions and Marines from these while waiting, provided they don’t supply block me. At three Banshees, cloak should be finished. So I send all three Banshees to the enemy main.

Usually the main contains just a Queen to defend - maybe a spore crawler or two. I kill the Queen first then start hunting down Spires and Hydralisk Dens. I ignore spore crawlers till I have five Banshees.

At some point I’ll have enough minerals for a second Command Center and a Tech Lab on the Factory, so I start pumping out Siege Tanks and Marines for a follow-up in case the Banshees aren’t enough to finish him off.

The build is weak against aggression - I can see this dying to a Baneling Bust, and one opponent won with 7 Roach Rush - but most Zerg at the Silver level, when faced with a Terran opponent, just try to rush straight to the Spire.

625.

I did a stupid thing and I am paying for it: around a week before the Season 3 lock expired (and Season 3 ended), I decided to start playing series of twenty for each race. In particular, I knew my Terran game was bad. I had no game at all against Zerg, and while my TvP and TvT games were marginally better, they weren’t by much.

So I played Terran. Nine games in I was thirty or so games down, which pushed me down the ranks. I finished Season 3 at tenth in my league, which of course meant that I didn’t rank within the top eight.

Crap.

After Season 4 launched, I switched back to Random and found myself back in Silver. Which is fine; I don’t want to climb higher, and any chance I have at staying in the low Silvers means I spend less time farming wins anyway.

625 saw me random into Protoss at the SW on Nerazim Crypt. My opponent started Terran and walled off after spawning at the SE. Since my opponent was walling off, I thought I could save some minerals by warping in only one Sentry; if I was attacked first, I could warp in more.

I built four Gateways and a Robotics Facility and warped in a Pylon behind his base, at the edge of the map just behind the long arc of his base. I sent an Observer in and, as I was unobserved, I warped in four Stalkers into his base.

They started tearing up a nearby Factory which was hard at work. In the meanwhile, two more Gateways I’d built finished warping in; I converted them to Warp Gates and warped in four Zealots next to the Stalkers in his base.

He sent a few Marines to stop my Stalkers, but there was just no contest. He sent me a pretty funny expletive and quit.

That was 625.

My Terran game is improving now, of course - all the losses do teach me things - but now my Protoss game is starting to suffer. I’m finding that not building 4gate is a fast way to lose. I’ve started trying 2gate/1robo but it’s just not as powerful as 4gate.

Something to research for next time. 

602.

I crossed the 600 mark earlier today. There was a lot of pain involved, as you can surmise - I can’t count the losses against, simply, better players. I played till I hit 601 this morning. 601 had me randoming into Zerg against a Terran on Tal’darim Altar LE. He decided to turtle up and neglected to spread his Marines out: one quick baneling bust later, my zerglings were in his base and smashing up his buildings.

“That was not nice,” he said, before he quit.

Yeah, that’s the kind of player I’ve been getting.

I made my first report earlier - the player wasn’t just trash talking, he was using a lot of inappropriate language. I’m not fine with trash talking, but I get by. It’s players who are winning and who trash talk who I have a bigger problem with. Sore losers are just as annoying, but I don’t twist the knife if I can avoid it.

I’ve begun to realize that my Terran game is weak. I’m finally getting wins again, although they’re not great wins. My last win was against a Protoss player and I simply out-expanded him, which allowed me the luxury of growing my M3 ball. That M3 ball just powered on through his bases, chewing through Stalkers, Zealots and Archons. I don’t often make M3 balls, which is probably a mistake given how key they are to a good Terran game.

601 was special in another way: I got my Zerg 250 win achievement then. I’m 2 wins away from the same achievement on Terran, then after that… well, it’ll be a long dry spell, achievement-wise, while I crawl up to 750 Random wins. I’m ahead of my projection by two days, so I’m hopeful I can be at 650 by this weekend. For 602, a PvP game, I decided to go for the achievement of warping in a Twilight Council within 270 seconds of the start of the game. I got it, and won the game too - not that I was expecting to, really. But it’s nice to win.

574.

That’s right, I’m climbing the charts like a new Lady Gaga song.

Season 3 is league-locked at the moment, and I’m scrambling to hit #1 for the hell of it. I’m currently ranked #3 - which is a miracle because two days ago I was at #7, and I’ve lost quite a few games since then. Fortunately, the system matched me with a couple of smurfers who quit their games within seconds of launch, giving me some much-needed points.

#1 is around 60 points away - four wins or so, assuming I don’t lose more than I win. Winning is hard. On the other hand, I’m losing fewer games than I should be - that is, when the system matches me with a Platinum player and I lose, I don’t take that against myself.

I’m encountering a lot of sore losers these days. I can’t explain it - maybe it’s the times I play. I won one game where the losing player just trash-talked me for the last half hour. Popping his last Refinery to end the game was a great relief. Who wants to be exposed to that kind of attitude for an extended period of time? But by far the best insult I’ve received to date has been “You use a lot of girl tactics.” I’m not sure that’s even an insult.

Another thing I’m seeing a lot more of is aggressive Terran players. Over the past few days, I’ve seen a lot of players show up at my base with a handful of marines and a couple of siege tanks in tow. I won’t lie - I’ve lost more games to these players than I’ve won so far - but I’m getting better at keeping them off balance enough to squeak ahead.

The iEchoic build is rapidly becoming obsolete - with the nerfing of BFH they’re just not as effective at clearing marines and SCVs any more. I’m still trying to find a new path forward that doesn’t involve Siege Tanks, but so far every build I’ve come up with or encountered needs tanks to anchor a defense.

On the Protoss front, I’ve had great success with a build that focuses on 1 Gateway, 1 Cybernetics Core and a Robotics Facility. It’s still a bit of a struggle to win against dedicated 4Gate pushers, but so far I’ve held off a few (but lost to a few as well.)

No stories for now as I’ve got to go back to laddering. I’m hoping to hit 600 by next Wednesday.

540.

Past 500 and creeping towards 750 and the Banshee portrait now. I’m currently spending a lot of time at home doing not a lot of meaningful work, so there’s plenty of opportunity to play Starcraft 2. And there’s a lot of added pressure with Heart of the Swarm on the way.

540 was an annoying match - I randomed into Zerg in the SE position on Nerazim Crypt. My opponent had chosen Terran, and had spawned in the NE position next to me.

I decided to start with a Baneling bust. The Banelings tried, but failed, to penetrate the tough exterior of a bunker filled with marines - instead they blew up a Supply Depot and most of a Barracks.

Fair enough. I expanded and threw up a Spire, intending to build up a Mutalisk swarm.

At five Mutas, I started harassing attacks on his mineral line. He was very slow to react - I noted that he’d overbuilt after the game - so my mutalisks were able to do quite a good bit of economic damage before heading home.

At fifteen Mutas, I noticed he’d started building an expansion at his natural, so I expanded again to keep ahead income-wise.

At twenty-four Mutas, and after having fended off a few waves of M-ball and Thor pushes with speedlings and Banelings, he said, “gg.”

Then he said “has left the game!” and lifted up his Command Center and flew it to the extreme NE corner.

I spent another ten minutes demolishing his base, and another ten looking for that damn Command Center. Later, rewatching the videos, I noted that his APM was 0 - he’d left the game running while he went to do something else.

What an ass. All the same, he got me to 540, and that’s what counts.

505.

As soon as I hit 496, I started to choke.

I can’t explain why. Maybe because 500 was so close? Maybe because I’d been dealing with stuff from my personal life and needed the wins more than I needed to win properly? I don’t know.

But I reached a new low that day - 10 straight losses. I was crushed.

I returned the day after that and won one game out of three. A terrible record. Then I stopped again for a couple of days.

So I came back today, with my record at 497, and crossed the 500 mark.

The Mutalisk avatar and a Zerg decal unlocked. It’s an amazing feeling.

500 was pretty straightforward. I randomed into Protoss in the 3 o’clock position on Searing Crater, my opponent spawning as Protoss opposite me in the 9 o’clock position. I knew I wanted to push with Immortals, so I built a Robotics Facility right after my Cybernetics Core. I dropped a proxy Pylon in the center of the map and pushed with five Zealots, six Stalkers and two Immortals.

My opponent, who had just expanded, didn’t have enough units to repel my attack, and he gg’ed inside of ten minutes.

That felt good.

481.

I was supposed to stop at 480, but it was just such an unsatisfying win - one of those games where your opponent quits just as the game starts - that I had to play another game.

So, 481.

I randomed into Zerg on Taldarim Altar LE in the SW corner. My opponent had chosen Terran and was holed up in the NE corner.

From experience, I knew that this matchup was going to be more about mutalisks than anything else. So I fast expanded and built up to mutalisks quickly, relying mainly on a handful of Zerglings and some Spine Crawlers to keep his primarily bio-based army out of my base.

He built Vikings - a bad choice against a mutalisk swarm. After I wiped out seven or eight Vikings, he gg’ed and it was done.

Mutalisk swarm is insanely powerful against Terran. The only generally reliable method of stopping mutalisk swarm is to train lots of marines, which are vulnerable to banelings, or to build lots of missile turrets, which are placement dependent. I really need to do this more often.

I’ve noticed, of late, that my XvZ game is terrible on both Terran and Protoss. Well, maybe not Protoss so much, although memories of a recent loss against an 8-pool speedling build still smart. But my TvZ is not great - I’m too vulnerable to the aforementioned mutalisk swarm build, which means that I need to be pressuring early. Banshee builds aren’t as powerful as I’d like, and they take too much time to build up to.

Something to study for the week as I prepare for 500 random wins.

472.

Had I known that a gaming mouse would have had such a huge effect on my performance, I would have bought one sooner. Since I started with the RAT9, I’ve won 8 out of 13 games. That’s a win rate of 61% - a marked improvement over my usual win rate of 40%.

472 was a straight-up ZvZ on Shattered Temple. I spawned at the 6 position, while my opponent was right next to me at the 3 position. He sent a drone in to build a spine crawler, which I foiled by sending three drones to harass it. In the meantime, he didn’t notice that I’d made my own spine crawler near his mineral line. It killed several drones, three zerglings and a Queen before it died.

I sent six zerglings to his natural in the hopes of preventing an early expansion and set up my own expansion. Once the second hatchery was up, I started fielding roaches - not a moment too soon, as my opponent had built up a sizable roach force of his own. Ten of his roaches, reinforced by six zerglings, charged into my main, where they faced off against just four of my own roaches, a spine crawler and a Queen. I pulled drones off the mineral line and swarmed his roaches while building more roaches of my own. In the end, I wound up with six roaches in varying shades of yellow and no Queen - but most of my drones were alive.

We sallied back and forth, but my expansion had sealed the deal. My economy was just much better than my opponent’s. I stormed into his base with two dozen roaches and overpowered his defenses. He’d set up a second hatchery in-base, which gave him more larvae - but he didn’t have the income to support the second hatchery. He gg’ed as the first of his hatcheries went down.

And that was 472.

Having taken my fair share of losses, it never fails to amaze me how players can be complete assholes on Battle.net - both winners and losers. I’ve been cursed out by losing players about as often as I’ve had fun chats with others. One guy who swarmed my base with speedlings was pretty cool to chat with - I didn’t mind losing. On the other hand, another guy felt trash-talking was the way to get ahead in SC2. I just don’t understand that.

The losses I enjoy the most are the ones from which I learn new strategies. One of my latest losses was such a game. It was on Antiga Shipyards, and he chose Terran while I randomed into Terran. I started in the lower right hand corner while he spawned in the upper right hand corner - very close.

In keeping with iEchoic’s build, I rushed to get a few Blue Flame Hellions out. A scan of his base showed that he was building marines and siege tanks - which meant that I’d need to rush the Banshees. Since I held the Xel’Naga tower in the center, I thought I’d get a bit more advance warning - marine and siege tank combos are notoriously slow-moving, which would have given me time to send the Hellions out.

I caught a glimpse of a small group of marines and two siege tanks moving towards my base, so out the Hellions came. And they didn’t see anything, so back into my base they went. And just as the first Banshee popped out, I got notice that my base was under attack.

He’d gone marine and siege tank, all right, but he’d built a medivac along with it. He sent six marines, two siege tanks and the medivac towards my base - where he used the medivac to bus all his forces into the small spot shielded by vents. My Hellions were out of position and didn’t get all his marines, which led to my Banshee getting killed early, which led to my GG and surrender. He’d played very well - his micro was spot on, and having abused that hidden spot myself (I send a floating Barracks to it to build marines on the sly,) I could hardly complain about his strategy. It was something new that I think I could learn from.

That kind of loss, I don’t mind.